Hopper door for railway cars



Aug. 9,1927. 1,638,166

I v. E. SISSON HOPPER DOOR FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Aug. 10, 1925 Evezuar:

Patented Aug. 9,1927. r 1,638,166 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VINTON E. sIssoN, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AssIGNon TO UNION METALrnonuo'rs COM- PAN'Y, or c IIcAeo, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION or DELAWARE.

HOPPER noon non RAILWAY CARS.

Application filed August 10, 1925. 'serial'No. 49,295.

The invention relates to a railway dump car having a door forming a partof the car for retaining the load therein which door is provided withhinges'adjacent one of its edges and is capable of beingdropped;or swungopen so that the load in discharging slides or passes oventhe uppersurface'of the door. Any means of raising the door to the closedposition and any means for locking and releasing the door may beemployed with my device- Experience has shown that a slight pro-.-.

jection on the upper surface of such a door causes the discharging loadto bank up- (and other parts of the car) and service conditions alsoregulate the inclination of the door after it is dropped,'so that it isseldom'possible to allow the doors to drop to a vertical position infact in a drop-bottom gondola car the doors are'positione'd only about30 degrees from a horizontal plane when in open position. v

A door for this purpose must be very strong and durable because:

First, it is apartof the floor. of the car and as such must sustaintheload as well as the impact blow of the load when the car isin motion.Second. the car is frequently loaded from chutes or tipples from'aheight of tenfeet or more, causing the load to be dropped directly uponthe doors. Third, clam shell buckets are frequently used to unload suchcars and it is not uncommon for these buckets to rest upon and dragoverthedoors. Fourth. when the door suddenly comes to rest after beingdropped. it is not only subjected to a severe shock but it must sustainthe severe impact thrust of the load which of course follows the door.Fifth, as the load is theoretically equally distributed, the door mustbe strong over its entire area and must be capable of transmitting theresulting stresses to the car body,

without much deflection and no substantial distortion. Any bending ofthe door or drooping of the corners would cause a leak of the lading,especially of such fine'materlal as sand, chats, etc. Any bending orwarping might interfere with the complete closing and locking of thedoor.

As it costs as much to haul a ton of car as' t does to haul a ton ofpaying freight, it is lmperative that the car and any part thereof be aslight as possible. Furthermore, the total weight of the car and freightis determined by the strength of certain standard axles, so that thelighter the car the greater amount of freight a given car'will beallowed to carry. Y 7

Various means have been used to strengthen a plate metal doorto meet theservice conditions. Reinforcements have been secured to the door thusmaterially increasing'its weight which is objectionable. Variousintegral reinforcements (such as corrugations) have been formed inmetallic plates which however, interfere with the discharge oftheloading or'have other objectionable This last feature is accomplished bythe peculiar and particular configuration of thocorrugation.

1. One of the objects of the invention is to obtain a strong durabledoor for a load discharging freight car made of a metallic plate formedwith integral corrugations.

which are positioned approximately normal to the direction of dischargeof the lading but are of'such configuration as not to interfere with themovement of the cargo when leaving the car. I

2. Another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement wherebythe corrugations are positioned substantially nor- Continuous beams sup7 the car, such as drop bottom general service inal. to the supportinghinges and yet will not interfere with the discharge oi? the lad ins.

Another object of the. invention is to attach the hinges to thecorrugated door so fl. Another object of theinvention is to" obtain adoor reinforced by corrugations which strengthen the entire area of thedoor which supports the load.

The advantages of: my door are applicable to any door of a freightearover, which the lading mo'ves when, being discharged from cars (used inthe drawings) hopper cars, swinging side doors or hopper bottom coalcars, etc.

For convenience of illustration and ease of description, straight lineshave been used-to show the corrugations however. it is understood thatcurves or a series of curves may be used and still come within.

. ure 1.

Figure 5 an enlarged section 01" the corrugation. Fig. 6 shows the hingerelation to the door.

To illustrate one adaptation of my device, I have shown so-calledgeneral service drop bottom gondola car wherein the major portion of thefloor consists of drop doors. The door openings are surrounded by thecent-er constructiomside wall and cross diaphragms. In normal or closedposition the door completely closes this opening and in fact is a triflelarger on all sides than the opening so as to provide a lap jointbetween the door and the car frame members. The hinge beams are hingedto the center construction and are supported adjacent the side wall bythe raising of locking mechanisms. Any convenient stop, such as 2, maybe used to limit the downward movement of the door.

The door is made of a metallic plate (preferably steel) which isreinforced with integral corrugations 3 resting upon hinge beams 4. thecorrugations extending; continuously their full depth between the hingesand then decreasing in depth (5). and merging into the original. planeof the plate 6 and preferably inclose proximity to the stitiehingflanges7, which are formed atthe opposite edges of the door. Thisarrangebetween the" opposite edges of the door and preferably under theadjacent cross diaphragnis (forming the opposite edges of the dooropening) as shown m Figure .4, so asto reinforce the entire part of thedoor upon which the cargo rests.

The contour of the corrugationsis such that when the doors are in openerdropper position the corrugations will not interfere with the dischargeof the lad-ing; Forconvenience, Ihav'e described the corrugations ascomprising an inner w-all 30 and an outer wall 31., i. e, the inner wallis the one-positioned near the inside edge or hinge edge of the door.The outer walls are preferably wider and positioned obliquely to theorig 1113i plane of the plate.

such that when the doors are open these .walls are inclined towar'dtheouteredge ol" the door, e, the angle or slant of the'plate of the outerwalls (asshown by ]ine.12l2) The obliquity is will not permit. thelading to stay thereon, j and furthermore, the outer wall chutes thecargo over the inner .wall or web of the itCljacent corrugation, sothatthe inner wall does not retard themovement of the; cargo. Thecorrugations have sloping inner walls 30 and sloping outer walls 31..The outer walls are preferably wider than the inner walls so as toincrease the angularitv of these inner walls from a horizontal planewhen the door is in open position (ii of; line 1212- on Figure It ispreferable-to joggleandto attach-the hinge to theJinner wall (as shownin Figure; 6) asany rivet head in the outer wall would not be pro tectedfrom the movinggloadiby the inner wall. 7 1 j l i What I claim is:

1. A doorfor a 'railway car made of a metallic plate formed withcorrugations; each of said corrugations con iprising an innor wall andan: outerwall positioned obliquely tothe original plane ot the plate.said inner wall. being narrower than said outerwall. 1 g f 2. Incombinationwiththe othenelements of a railway dump car; a door made of amatallic plate formed with corrugations. each of said corrugationscomprising in nor wall and an outer wall positioned obliquely to theoriginal plane of theplat'e, said inner wall being outer wall. 7

In combination with-the other elements of a railway dump car, ,a doormade of a narrower than saidmetallic plate formed with corrugationshinges attached. tothe carbody-ex-t-ending normal to said corrugationsand secured to said inner walls.

4. In combination with the other elements of a railway dump car, a doormade of a metallic plate formed with corrugations comprising inner andouter walls,'the outer walls being of such angular relation to theoriginal plane of the plate that when the door is in open position saidouter walls are inclined toward the outer edge of the door and hingesattached to the car body extending normal to and secured to saidcorrugations.

5. In combination with, the other elements of a railway dump car, a doormade of a metallic plate formed with corrugations comprising inner andouter walls, the outer walls being of such angular relation to theoriginal plane of the plate that when the door is in open position saidouter walls are inclined toward the outer edge of the door and hingesattached to the car body extending normal to said corrugations andsecured to said door.

6. In combination with the other elements of a railway dump car formingthe opposite v 8. In combination with the other elements of a railwaydump car forming the opposite edges of a door opening, a door made of ametallic plate formed with corrugations which extend continuouslybetween and beyond said opposite edges oft-he door openingand hingesattached to the car body extending normal'to said corrugations, saidcorrugations extending continuously their full depth between saidhinges, and decreasing in depth and merging into the original plane ofthe plate close to the stiffening gauges formed at the opposite edges ofthe oor.

9. In combination with the other elements of a railway dump car; a doormade of a metallic plate formed with corrugations terminating within theedges of the plate, each of said corrugations comprising an inner walland an outer wall positioned obliquely to the original plane of theplate,

said inner wall being narrower than said prising an inner wall and anouter wall positioned obliquely to the original plane of the plate,saidinner wall being narrower than said outer wall.

VINTON E SISSON.

till

